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French and Spanish War
Note: Harry Turtledove has not yet directly named this war. The name ''French and Spanish War is used for convenience. The date of 1761 is approximate.'' The French and Spanish War was the Atlantean front of a global war which started in Europe. Several decisive battles between Britain on one side and France and Spain on the other were fought in Atlantis over a period of months in 1761. France and Spain were both defeated; France lost its possessions in Atlantis, among other places; Spain still occupied its Atlantean territory but was forced to give Britain wide trading concessions. The war in turn laid the foundation for the Atlantean War of Independence some fourteen years. Background The war actually began in Europe when Prussia's King Friedrich II launched a war against Austria. Russia and France soon sided with Austria. England in turn sided with Prussia. Spain in turn joined France. The war did take some time to reach Atlantis and when it did many English- and French-Atlanteans were hesitant to take up arms merely because their mother country demanded it. Braddock and Radcliff Meet Kersauzon Nonetheless, regulars soon arrived from across the Atlantic. English Major General Edward Braddock arrived with an army in New Hastings. In French Atlantis, Roland Kersauzon (a native Atlantean) seized the initiative and invaded English Atlantis, crossing the Erdre River and smashing his opponents. However, smallpox decimated his ranks, forcing him to halt his advance. Despite warnings from Atlantean Major Victor Radcliff, Braddock decided to meet Kersauzon in open battle. While the smallpox had halted Kersauzon's advance, he had ample forces to ambush the unwary Braddock. The English were routed and Braddock was fatally wounded. Cornwallis Rises; Montcalm-Gozon Arrives The English retreated to Freetown, where relatively inexperienced Lt. Colonel Charles Cornwallis, the remaining senior officer, took command. As the English prepared Freetown, Kersauzon's forces were replenished with 2000 regular French troops under the command of General Louis-Joseph de Montcalm-Gozon. The French again began to advance on Freetown, destroying the earthenwork the English had built in an attempt to ambush the French. As Freetown appeared in reach, word soon came that Major Victor Radcliff was attacking French Atlantis. Radcliff's March to the Sea Realizing that the French forces need to be divided, Radcliff proposed to Cornwallis that he take a company of men and attack French Atlantis and even Spanish Atlantis. Cornwallis, after some hesitation, agreed. Radcliff's men marched quickly, terrorizing French settlers and disrupting French supply lines. Kersauzon begged Montcalm-Gozon to let him chase Radcliff. Montcalm-Gozon initially balked, knowing that the only reason Radcliff had marched south was to divide French forces. Ultimately, Montcalm-Gozon agreed, and Kersauzon made a hasty pursuit. When Radcliff learned Kersauzon was coming he marched directly into Spanish Atlantis. Here was Radcliff's first piece of luck: despite the alliance between France and Spain, Spanish Governor-General José Valverde refused to allow Kersauzon to enter Spanish Atlantis. Disgusted, Kersauzon headed north. When his men reached the border between English and French Atlantis, Valverde begged Kersauzon to return. Radcliff's presence had touched off an uprising of Spanish Atlantis' slaves. As French Atlantis also depended on slavery, Kersauzon saw no other option but to return to Spanish Atlantis and pursue Radcliff. For his own part, Radcliff was reticent about touching off a servile insurrection, and so supplied slaves only minimally. He pushed on arriving on the coast, and realizing he now had no other place to go, and Kersauzon's men were closing in. Freetown and Radcliff's Rescue Radcliff's plan had the desired effect at Freetown. With the French forces divided, Montcalm-Gozon's siege at Freetown slowly ground down, and was turned back with the arrival of more British regulars under the command of Brigadier Daniel Endicott and Colonel Harcourt. Endicott took command of the situation, but not before Cornwallis sent several frigates down the coast of Atlantis to rescue Radcliff's men. The ships found Radcliff before Kersauzon did, and brought him back to Freetown. Kersauzon, completely defeated, again made the march north, pointedly refusing to put down the slave rebellion in Spanish Atlantis. With Radcliff's men back in Freetown, the English turned to vanquishing Montcalm-Gozon. The siege at Freetown ended, but not without the death of Endicott and the sever wounding of Harcourt, leaving Cornwallis once again the senior British field commander in Atlantis. Knowing that Kersauzon might soon arrive to reinforce Montcalm-Gozon, Radcliff arranged to cut off Montcalm-Gozon's supply line. Sending a detachment of skirmishers to slow Kersauzon down, the brunt of the English forces engaged Montcalm-Gozon. The French general died by Radcliff's hand, and his forces were destroyed. The Fall of Nouveau Redon and Kersauzon Kersauzon retreated into Nouveau Redon, the premiere fortress of French Atlantis, and prepared for a long siege. Nouveau Redon was heavily fortified, and a fresh water spring flowed within the fort. It was also the last major French settlement standing in Atlantis. Cornwallis was determined that the fortress fall quickly. When informed by Radcliff that the fort's primary source of water was the spring, Cornwallis looked back to ancient history, and prepared to disrupt the spring at the source. Cornwallis ordered a mining project, all while English troops entrenched outside the fort. Once the source was found, the English used gunpowder to change the course of the spring. The water quickly drained out of Nouveau Redon. Frustrated, Kersauzon ordered his men leave the fort and attack the English. During a brief but bloody battle, the French were beaten, and Kersauzon was killed. Other Theaters Britain gained the upper-hand against France in other all other theaters as well. France was defeated in Terranova and India. Likewise, England's ally Prussia gained the upper-hand in Europe. The Peace England dominated France's territorial possessions. French Atlantis, Terranova and India passed into British hands. However, Britain soon realized that it had spent a sizable fortune for those possessions and soon sought to derive economic benefit from both its old and its new holdings. This set the stage for the Atlantean War of Independence. See also *Seven Years' War, the OTL analog. Category:Atlantis Category:Wars (Alternate Timeline) Category:Wars Involving Britain Category:Wars Involving France Category:Wars Involving Spain